Test: May 2023 Weekly Current Affair - 2 - UPSC MCQ

• Article 200 of the Constitution provides certain options for the Governor to exercise when a Bill reaches him from the Assembly. The provision concerned makes it clear that a Bill can be reserved for the consideration of the President only if the Governor forms an opinion that the Bill would endanger the position of the High Court by whittling away its powers. The Constitution does not mention any other type of Bill which is required to be reserved for the consideration of the President.
• The fact that the Constitution does not mention the grounds on which a Governor may withhold assent to a Bill shows that this power should be exercised by the Governor extremely sparingly and after very careful consideration of the consequences of such action.

• The Supreme Court has declared the National Green Tribunal’s (NGT) position as a “unique” forum endowed with suo motu powers to take up environmental issues across the country.
• “The exercise of power by the NGT is not circumscribed by the receipt of applications. When substantial questions relating to the environment arise and the issue is civil in nature and those relate to the Act, the NGT, in our opinion, even in the absence of an application, can self-ignite action either towards amelioration or towards prevention of harm,” a three-judge Bench held in a judgment.
• The Tribunal has to perform equally vital roles that were preventative, ameliorative or remedial in nature. “The functional capacity of the NGT was intended to leverage wide powers to do full justice in its environmental mandate,”
• The judgment described the NGT “as a complimentary, competent, specialised forum to deal with all environmental multidisciplinary issues both as original and also as an appellate authority, which complex issues were hitherto dealt with by the High Courts and the Supreme Court”.
• “Unlike the civil courts, which cannot travel beyond the relief sought by the parties, the NGT is conferred with power of moulding any relief,” the court stated.

National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013 anchors the Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS), the PM POSHAN scheme (earlier known as the Mid-Day Meals scheme), and the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS).

• Import substitution is a strategy under trade policy that abolishes the import of foreign products and encourages for the production in the domestic market. The purpose of this policy is to change the economic structure of the country by replacing foreign goods with domestic goods. Post-Independence India adopted the policy of import substitution by imposing heavy tariffs on import duty.
• Import Cover measures the number of months of imports that can be covered with foreign exchange reserves available with the central bank of the country. Eight to ten months of import cover is essential for the stability of a currency.

• Lidar, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging, is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. These light pulses—combined with other data recorded by the airborne system — generate precise, three-dimensional information about the shape of the Earth and its surface characteristics.
• LiDAR can be used to create 3D elevation map of a particular land.
• LiDAR wavelength is shorter. It operates in ultraviolet, visible region or near infrared. This helps to image the matter which is of the same size or larger than the wavelength. So LiDAR can detect pollutant particles of carbon dioxide, Sulphur dioxide, and methane.

• The Union Cabinet recently approved significant changes in the pricing regime for domestic natural gas under the ambit of the administered price mechanism (APM), which mainly applies to gas produced by legacy fields, or nomination fields, of national oil companies Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) Ltd and Oil India Ltd (OIL).
• Nomination fields are acreages that the government awarded to ONGC and OIL before 1999, after which auctions became the basis of awarding oil and gas blocks.
• The revised pricing mechanism is based on recommendations of a panel headed by Kirit Parikh.

• International Big Cats Alliance (IBCA) will focus on the protection and conservation of seven major big cats of the world, including tiger, lion, leopard, snow leopard, puma, jaguar and cheetah, with membership of the range countries harbouring these species.
• Project Tiger was launched by the Central government on April 1, 1973, in a bid to promote conservation of the tiger. Launched at the Jim Corbett National Park, the programme was initially started in nine tiger reserves of different States such as Assam, Bihar, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, covering over 14,000 sq km.
• Notably, Project Tiger didn’t just focus on the conservation of the big cats. It also ensured the preservation of their natural habitat as tigers are at the top of the food chain.

The under-construction Zojila tunnel, which will establish all-weather connectivity between the Union Territories of Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir.

The Zojila tunnel will be India’s longest road tunnel, and is expected to be Asia’s longest bi-directional tunnel, boasting a length of 14.15 km.

• April 13 saw celebrations for the Sikh festival of Baisakhi, which marks the onset of Spring and the harvest of winter crops. Simultaneously, the movement for independence from British rule had been steadily gaining ground.
• By 4 pm, many gathered for a public meeting against the arrest of Dr Satyapal and Dr Saifuddin Kitchlew for opposing the Rowlatt Act.
• Without giving the crowd any warning to disperse, Dyer ordered his troops to fire.
• Indian leaders expressed their anger and protested in response to the killings. Notably, Nobel laureate poet Rabindranath Tagore gave up his knighthood.
• A Committee named Hunter Committee was set up to investigate the Jallianwala bagh incident.

• The Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2017 amended Section 5 of the erstwhile Act to allow 26 weeks of paid leave after childbirth, although only to biological mothers.
• The amendment also inserted Section 5(4) which said that adoptive or surrogate mothers legally adopting a child below three months will be entitled to a maternity benefit period of 12 weeks from the date the child is handed over to the mother.
• The Act is applicable to all establishments employing 10 or more than 10 persons in Factories, Mines, Plantation, Shops & Establishments and other entities. Establishments employing 50 or more employees are also required to provide crèche facilities, either separately or along with common facilities within a prescribed distance.

After the offside, handball is the most contested rule in football. A handball is an offence in football which ensues when an outfield player touches the ball with their hand or arm, or a goalkeeper outside of their penalty box.

• Mangalajodi area is located on the banks of Chilika lake — an important bird area (IBA).
• Mangalajodi is recognised as globally important for the conservation of bird population. The area is used for roosting and nesting by migratory birds. The area is 8.3 square km of marshy land with emergent vegetation.

• Skeletal muscles normally brim with energy, yet they starve in the absence of Vitamin D, says recent research. This research demonstrates that glycogen stored in the skeletal muscles is not converted into a usable form of energy without Vitamin D.
• Usually, the glucose absorbed from the food is converted into glycogen and stored in the skeletal muscle. This stored energy reserve is used by muscles to produce energy after the food consumed is digested. However, in the absence of vitamin D, the skeletal muscle is starved of energy, decreasing muscle mass.
• We are becoming aware that vitamin D works more as a hormone than and is involved in a host of biochemical reactions. It is key to maintaining metabolic functions, immune system.

• Parambikulam Tiger Reserve is a protected area lying in Palakkad district and Thrissur district of Kerala.
• Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary is located on the foothills of the Himalayas, between the Teesta and Mahananda rivers. It is situated in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal.
• The Mukundra Tiger Reserve (TR) is located near Kota, Rajasthan.
• Pilibhit Tiger Reserve is located in Pilibhit district of Uttar Pradesh and was notified as a tiger reserve in 2014.
• Gandhi Sagar Sanctuary is a wildlife sanctuary situated on the northern boundary of Mandsaur and Nimach districts in Madhya Pradesh.

Kihoto Hollohan vs Zachillhu And Others (1992): The Supreme Court upheld The Constitution (Fifty-second Amendment) Act that introduced the Tenth Schedule or the so-called “anti-defection law” in the Constitution. The only portion of the amendment that was struck down was the one that stated that the decisions of the Speaker relating to disqualification cannot be judicially reviewed.

• Under NBS, the government fixed a per-kg subsidy for each fertiliser nutrient: Nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potash (K) and sulphur (S). This was as against the earlier product-specific subsidy regime.
• Linking subsidy to nutrient content was intended to promote balanced fertilisation by discouraging farmers from applying too much urea, di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) and muriate of potash (MOP). These are fertilisers with high content of a single nutrient: Urea (46% N), DAP (46% P plus 18% N) and MOP (60% K).
• NBS was expected to induce product innovation, besides more use of complex fertilisers (having lower concentrations of N, P, K and S in different proportions) and SSP (containing only 16% P but also 11% S).

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs):

• Typically, an ETF mirrors a particular index, which means the group of stocks in the ETF would be similar to those in the index that it is benchmarked to.
• They are traded on stock exchanges like shares.
• Usually, ETFs are passive funds where the fund manager doesn’t select stocks on your behalf. Instead, the ETF simply copies an index and endeavours to accurately reflect its performance.
• In an ETF, one can buy and sell units at prevailing market price on a real time basis during market hours.

• Right to Information Act 2005 mandates timely response to citizen requests for government information. It is an initiative taken by Department of Personnel and Training, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions to provide a– RTI Portal Gateway to the citizens for quick search of information on the details of first Appellate Authorities, PIOs etc. amongst others, besides access to RTI related information / disclosures published on the web by various Public Authorities under the government of India as well as the State Governments
• Under the RTI law, information commissions are the final appellate authority and are mandated to safeguard and facilitate people’s fundamental right to information.
• The report says two out of 29 information commissions across the country are completely defunct, four of them headless at the moment and only 5% of the positions being occupied by women.

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the 1994 international agreement that lays down the broad principles of the global effort to fight climate change, acknowledges the differentiated responsibility of nations. It makes it clear that rich countries shall provide both the finance and the technology to developing nations to help tackle climate change. However, the UNFCCC does not mention loss and damage.
• In 2009, developed countries agreed to provide US$ 100 billion every year from 2020 to help developing nations fight climate change. However, they are struggling to fulfill this promise.
• It was after much struggle that developing countries and environment groups managed to establish a separate channel on loss and damages. The Warsaw International Mechanism (WIM) for Loss and Damages, set up in 2013, was the first formal acknowledgment of the need to compensate developing countries struck by climate disasters.

• In rural Bharat, DBT has allowed the government to provide financial assistance effectively and transparently to farmers with lower transaction costs – be it for fertilisers or any of the other schemes including the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, and PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana. The benefits received under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and Public Distribution System drive the rural demand-supply chain.
• In urban India, the PM Awas Yojana and LPG Pahal scheme successfully use DBT to transfer funds to eligible beneficiaries. Various scholarship schemes and the National Social Assistance Programme use the DBT architecture to provide social security. DBT under rehabilitation programmes such as the Self Employment Scheme for Rehabilitation of Manual Scavengers opens new frontiers that enable social mobility of all sections of society.

• The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) is an independent intergovernmental body established by States to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, long-term human well-being and sustainable development.
• It was established in Panama City, on 21 April 2012 by 94 Governments.
• It is not a United Nations body.  However, at the request of the IPBES Plenary and with the authorization of the UNEP Governing Council in 2013, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) provides secretariat services to IPBES. It is intended to serve a similar role to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

• UNDEF was created by UN Secretary-General Kofi A. Annan in 2005 as a United Nations General Trust Fund to support democratization efforts around the world.
• UNDEF funds projects that empower civil society, promote human rights, and encourage the participation of all groups in democratic processes. The large majority of UNDEF funds go to local civil society organizations. 
• UNDEF subsists entirely on voluntary contributions from Governments.
• India is among the top contributors to the UN Democracy Fund (UNDEF) whose mission is to promote democracy across the world through local and international NGOs and civil society organisations (CSOs). Since UNDEF’s inception in 2005, India has contributed over $32 million to it and remains its fourth largest contributor.
• As a secretary-General’s Trust Fund located within the UN Secretariat, UNDEF falls under the direct authority of the UN Secretary-General. The secretary-general is guided by the UNDEF Advisory Board, which consists of the seven biggest UNDEF donor countries—as of 2010, the United States, India, Japan, Qatar, Germany, Australia and Spain.

A shell corporation/ Ghost company is a corporation without active business operations or significant assets. These types of corporations are sometimes used illegitimately, such as to disguise business ownership from law enforcement or the public. Shell corporations act as tax avoidance vehicles for legitimate businesses.

• The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has completed the Mother Tongue Survey of India (MTSI) with field videography of the country’s 576 languages.
• According to the report, the Mother Tongue Survey of India is a project that “surveys the mother tongues, which are returned consistently across two and more Census decades”. It also documents the linguistic features of the selected languages.

• Since 1973, the year of the Kesavananda Bharati judgment, the Constitution has been amended more than 60 times. In these five decades, the Supreme Court has tested constitutional amendments against the doctrine of basic structure in at least 16 cases.
• In nine of these 16 cases, the Supreme Court has upheld constitutional amendments that had been challenged on grounds of violation of the basic structure doctrine. Six of these cases relate to reservations — including the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Economically Weaker Section (EWS), and reservations in promotions.
• The Supreme Court has struck down a constitutional amendment entirely just once — The Constitution (Ninety-ninth Amendment) Act, 2014, which established the National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC)
• In six instances since 1973, including the Kesavananda ruling itself, the Supreme Court has “partially struck down” a constitutional amendment. In all these cases, the provision that was struck down related to the denial of judicial review.